


A Phone Call Away

by Pikachugirly001



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-13
Updated: 2013-03-13
Packaged: 2017-12-05 05:03:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/719179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikachugirly001/pseuds/Pikachugirly001
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fullmetal's been missing for a week, making the colonel worry like hell. What happened to the blonde? How much trouble has the pipsqueak gotten himself into? and will Roy be able to help him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Phone Call Away

“Colonel, sir. If I may be so bold as to say that you’re going to wear a whole in the floor if you don’t sit your ass down!” Lieutenant Hawkeye said with a stern tone. Of course, the flame alchemist had been in his own little world, paying little attention to his real surroundings.  
Havoc and Breda along with the others just sat there watching, waiting for the flame to come out of his sort of trance like state. All wondering what to do as they sat on mismatched furnature parading around the office, all in hopes of getting back a little blonde boy and his brother.  
Roy Mustang came back to reality from this small outburst, and subconsciously came to the conclusion that maybe sitting down was a good idea. He leaned back in his comfy leather chair and laid his head against his desk full of paperwork that hadn’t been touched in days. If he wasn’t pacing the floors wildly, then he was sitting at his desk moping. Neither one of these being a positive outcome for the flame, seeing as though he had a LOT of paper work that needed to be done in a short period of time.  
“Really sir, you should get started on the paperwork.. you do realize that it won’t do itself... correct?” Hawkeye said with a shadow of humor, trying to ease some of the tension in the room, but failing none the less.  
“Riza..” Mustang said in his most exasperated tone of voice possible. “I’ll get on it. Later.” He said quite impatiently, looking directly into her eyes. “At the moment there are other matters that need to be attended to.” He hated saying something to her like that in front of their coworkers but... something had to be said. He was jsut in too bad of a mood to be told what to do, and too worried to even think coherent thoughts.  
She took in what he had said and decided that it was a lost battle. She took inventory of how the colonel looked. Bags under his seemingly dull eyes from two days of not sleeping and most likely not eating, his uniform sagging, his complexion quite pale from worry. It was almost as if you could picture the golden haired boy in Mustang’s eyes, as if somehow that longing in his eyes would grab hold of the boy and bring him back.  
“Sir.. He’s been gone for a week. Sure, he was supposed to be back by now... but today is only Friday.. I’m sure that we will be in touch with him soon, and besides if we don’t get in touch with him by tomorrow then were sending a search force out after him.” The lieutenant looked around at everyone and looked as though she was thinking hard about something.. “I request permission to give you advice, sir”  
The colonel looked to her as his dark eyes shaded a color. “Permission granted”, he said with a sigh.  
“Mustang, he’s a strong boy. He’ll be all right, but you need to get some slee-”  
As if on cue the phone rang, cutting into the Lieutenant’s ‘advice’, Mustang not pausing for a second before answering the phone on the first ring”  
Every eye in the room was on him.  
“Colonel Roy Mustang-” was all that he managed to say before he heard a voice on the other line.  
“Mustang!” sounded from the other end of the line, in a sort of hurried, whining voice. Mustang would’ve recognized it anywhere.  
“Fullmetal! W-what! Where are you!” He said as he motioned for everyone in the fucking room to go trace the call, with passion in his eyes saying ‘if you don’t you’re all dead men’ As they all scurried out the door and into another room where they could still see the colonel through a window.  
“Listen.. colonel.. I don’t know how long I can make this phone call... but there are some important things that I need to tell you” Again, in a rushed manor.  
“Fullmetal! I demand to know where you are right this instant! What’s going on! You were supposed to be back here two days ago!”  
“Colonel..” There was a long pause on both lines, as Roy knew exactly what that word meant. Knowing quite well that that meant ‘shut the hell up, I need you to listen right now’  
“Colonel.. Alphonse and I. We won’t be back for a while.. I need you to listen to me. It’s dangerous to even be talking to you right at this moment... but I need to right now. Al and I.. well.. we’ve gotten ourselves into some dangerous shit.. and well I’ve got to hurry this along.. the only reason i’m calling is because at the moment Al is at the hotel which isn’t safe for either of us to be away from each other for too long” Panicked and rushed he murmured that all out onto the line, and the colonel replied not missing a beat.  
“Fullmetal.. Edward what have you gotten yourselves into! What’s going on! Where are you!” He said in the most frustrated sounding voice possible.  
“Mustang I need you to listen to me.. This is very important.. I can’t tell you everything that’s going on. You’re going to have to trust me.. I can’t put you in that kind of danger.. “  
“Edward! This is a direct order from your superior! Tell me what the fuck is going on. NOW.”  
“I.. I can’t.” Ed shook his head from the tiny phone booth that he was sitting in, trying to keep hidden from the humunculus that were sure to be around somewhere.  
“Please.. understand.. M-Must..Roy.. Please understand Roy... Right now.. I need you..” The blonde haired boy said with tears forming in his eyes.  
At this point all of the coworkers were now listening in on the call being held between the young blonde and the older raven-haired man.  
“Edward... Dammit...” Sigh. “What are you calling for.. what do you need.. whatever it is.. you’ve got it.” The older man said running a hand through his hair.  
“Mustang.. I need your word.. I need your word that you’ll take care of Alphonse if something happens to me. Don’t let anything happen to him. You got that?”  
As the Raven haired man tried to retort with something along the lines of don’t let me hear you say that, he was beaten to the punch by the click of another phone and a voice shattering through, “Come on Boss! Don’t let us hear you say that nonsense! you’re coming back to us in one piece!” In the background there were plenty of other people agreeing with the young smoking man.  
The colonel replied with a stern look through his office window saying ‘you guys better get the hell off that phone before I burn you all to pieces’, as there was a short click on the line again.  
Roy heard a faint sob on the other end of the line almost sure that it was coming from the beautiful blonde boy. “Ed.. I can’t do that.. you’ve got to come back. You don’t have a choice.. I’m not giving you a choice. You better get your ass back here alive.. thats a direct order!”  
At this the young boy’s sobs got louder. “Mustang.. before.. I need to go.. which was like ten minutes ago. I need you to know this..”  
“What?! Fullmetal? What do you need me to know? What is it?” The colonel said as he felt his heart racing through his chest. ‘Was.. What is he going to say. Is.. this..’ he thought to himself.  
“I need you to know.. that..” -crack- “Oh god! Envy! DAMMIT! Get the fuck away from me!”  
“You know.. thats a funny thing to say pipsqueak.. especially when we’ve already gotten your little brother. It looks like you’d be the one chasing us.”  
As the phone fell to the floor of the floor of the now broken in two phone booth, you could hear a certain raven haired man shouting “Edward” over and over again. Only to hear the sounds of a short blonde boy yell something along the lines of a screechy “I’ll call you back soon, Don’t worry!” and then a sudden click.  
“So.. this has to do with the humoculi.. “ Roy thought to himself, “at least.. thats something to go by.” This time allowed with complete worry taking over his voice for the fate of his youngest subordinate. “Come on Ed.. you can do it.” As everyone looked at each other, shocked at what had just happened.


	2. What you Had to Say?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mustang waits for Ed's phone call back, which eventually comes, and Mustang finally learns what it was that Edward had d to say.

He laid down in his soft bed, with the dark blue comforter on top. The large comforter, adorned with the same flame transmutation circle as the one on his pearly gloves. He had just gotten home from work an hour ago and couldn’t keep himself from pacing back and forth down in the large kitchen area, so he decided maybe he should go to sleep early. The raven haired man had hardly slept in.. well.. six days, anyway. Instead, he found himself thinking back to the phone call he had received six days ago. 

“Mustang.. before.. I need to go.. which was like ten minutes ago. I need you to know this.." 

‘Dammit. What was he going to tell me? Is he alright? What... what if I never find out?’ The colonel sighed aloud, and punched the dark pillow next to him. ‘I need to do something for the kid.. but the freaking call couldn’t be traced.. what else could go wrong?’ 

He made a decision to get up and head back downstairs, unsure of what he was actually going to do but laying here and thinking about those things wouldn’t do him much good, he thought to himself. His too-big black sweatpants hung quite low on his thin waist, revealing a pair of black boxers. His bare chest showing, and dark hair, any woman in town would’ve known, laying messily atop his head. 

As soon as he had made his way down the hall and down the stairs, he sat down on the sofa and grabbed his pocket watch, ‘7:00’. Plopping down onto the couch and grabbing the remote off of the table, he laid on his back, simultaneously clicking the button labeled ‘on’ as the room filled with talking that he didn’t care to focus on. ‘Just something to keep the quiet away’ he said aloud, sleep riddling through his voice. His eyes closed shut each blink gaining an extra second as he felt his body shutting down for sleep.

‘I really.. hope he calls soon.. I don’t know what I’ll do if this goes on much longer. He said he’d call soon.. but it’s been six days.. and they said that they had Alphonse.. which means.. well more trouble in general.. and Envy was right there in front of Ed.. Dammit.. what can I do..‘ He thought as he slowly drifted off to sleep. 

Riiing! Riiing! Riing!

“Hello, this is Colonel Mustang..” He said wiping the sleep out of his eyes. Also, making time to grab the small silver pocket watch laying on the table and looked at the time, ’10:00? Who would call...-’

“M-Mustang..” 

“Fullm-Ed is that you?” ‘I.. I’m not dreaming.. am i?’ As he quickly woke himself up and sat upright on the couch.

“Yeah it’s me, Colonel Bastard. I didn’t know if you’d answer your home phone or not... but yeah..”

“Edward. Tell me what’s going on” The worry of the past six days found its way into his voice, although he was hoping and praying to... whomever... that Ed couldn’t hear it. The blonde seemed more concentrated on other things though. 

“Well.. sigh.. It’s a long story Roy. There’s a lot to tell.. I think that we have better chances now. We’ll be coming home soon, I know it.” 

Although, the blonde sounded rather confident, Roy could tell he was terrified. “Edward.. tell me..” He paused a moment, before adding a word he didn’t even know was in his vocabulary. “...please.”

“Colonel.. well.. I’ve gotten some more time, I guess I can give you an update. I’m located in a phone booth a few miles from my hotel. The homunculi have definitely been around. They had.. well.. they’d gotten to Al, but I got him back... and well he’s now residing in a very safe location.” He said with a militaristic tone to his voice, realizing that if he would’ve used any other voice, he probably would’ve broken down. 

Roy had to take a few seconds to take this all in. “When will the two of you be back? Is there anything that I can do to help? Are either of you.. hurt?”

He waited a moment before adding his final question. “What was it that you needed to tell me.. last time? 

Ed let out a sigh. “First of all, We don’t know how many people are still.. following us, and it’s incredibly dangerous for Al or I to be separated. Calling you is the only time that I’ve left him. We have the hotel under a fake name, but I can’t give you that name since this line could possibly be.. unreliable. I’m sure that there are some homunculi that are still out there, but the only ones that were sure of is Envy at the moment”  
Roy took this in, not really gaining any new information, but still continuing to look for clues in what the younger alchemist was saying. 

Before Roy had a chance to ask anything Edward continued, “Second of all, Al and I... we’re pretty beaten up, but we’ll manage. I’m hoping that we can come back soon, heh.. It’s gotten bad enough out here that I’m actually starting to miss you and your short jokes” The boy gave a forced laugh, trying to lighten up the dark conversation. 

That’s when Roy knew it was bad out there, Ed would’ve never said that otherwise. “Edward.. tell me where you are. I can come to help you.. You and your brother. I can help you, I can keep your secrets. How much longer do you think that you can last out there? You need help and I... I can help.” His voice wavering on the last few words. He knew with every fiber of his being that Ed would decline but he had to throw that out there anyway. 

“Thank you colonel, but I can’t let you do that. I won’t put you or anyone else into danger by getting involved with us. We’ll take care of things” Ed said sadly, letting a tear escape at those words. He would’ve given anything for the colonel to be there with him, but there was no way that he was going to put Roy into that kind of danger. He wouldn’t allow it. 

“Sigh, Edward, you’re as stubborn as ever. I knew that you’d say that but I’d hoped otherwise. Is there anymore you can give me on the update?” Roy said in a tone of voice that let Edward know how much worry was actually going through Roy. 

“Colo-..Roy, I don’t really know the amount of time that it’ll take for us to get home, but my automail is pretty crummy at the moment and Al’s pretty torn up too, I think we’ll be fixing that soon though, if you know what I mean.” Ed said as casually as possible, hoping with every part of him that Roy caught what he meant, but also not needing to come right out and say it. 

Roy looked at the phone a few seconds before nodding into nothing and replying “I hope you can do that soon, pipsqueak. I’d hate to have to wait for that....” He said, hoping Ed caught his reply, “If I were you.”

The red-coated alchemist realized immediately that Roy had caught on, and Ed needed to be getting back to Al. 

“Well, Roy I have to be getting back, like I said.. It’s not good for us to be separated at the moment.. I’ll be getting back to you soon.” He said 

“Alright Ed,” He said with a smile on his face, but he still had something to ask, “but umm.. well.. before you go I need to ask you something. What.. was it that you needed to tell me.. before you left last time?”

“Well.. I just wanted to tell you.. thank you for everything, and that well.. Al and I will never be able to repay you for what you’ve done.. but well.. just.. umm.. thank you.. R-roy.. I love you.”

Before Mustang could utter another word the line went dead for the second time that week, leaving Roy dumbfounded and staring at his phone.


	3. The Next Day

Roy strode into work that morning, with one thing on his mind. He walked down the hall of Central with pale skin and purple lines around his eyes, showing the restlessness of the previous night. After the phone call from Ed, how was he supposed to sleep? There was only one thing that he needed to do and it was get to Risembool. His thoughts flickered back to the phone conversation from the night before.

‘My automail is pretty crummy at the moment...Al and I are going to have to get that fixed soon’. 

Roy knew that could only mean one thing. That Ed was headed toward Risembol and he was trying to leave Roy a message, that only he could catch onto in case the line was tapped. Whatever position that Ed had gotten himself into, he claimed that he wouldn’t let anyone else get hurt for it, but he realized that with the message came the realization that Ed needed Roy’s help. He remembered Ed’s words about not letting anyone get hurt, which was true. Roy knew that if anything happened Ed would make sure that there was no way that he could get in trouble. He knew that Ed wouldn’t allow anything of the sort to happen. He knew of Ed’s conscience, and knew that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if anyone got hurt for his mess. He also realized, that if anyone was tapping the line, they would believe that Ed wouldn’t allow him to come out. Ed had planned well about what he was saying, and was basing it all off hope that Roy would be able to decode what he was saying and find the real meaning in his words. 

That was frightening and appealing at the same time. The thought that Ed needed his help and was going to let him in was one thing. Then there was the thought that if they actually needed Roy’s assistance... ‘How much trouble are they in?’ , he thought to himself. 

Then another spark lit up inside his head, ‘Al and I will never be able to repay you for what you’ve done.. but well.. just.. umm.. thank you.. R-roy.. I love you.”

He tried not to linger on the last words of the phone call. ‘I love you’. They sounded so.. right in his ears. It dazed and confused the poor general, usually being the most favorable bachelor in Central. Did that title really stretch as far as to the blonde subordinate? He couldn’t help but wonder in what way did the small blonde mean it? His mind automatically assumed it was in a fatherly figure, causing his figure to slump a little at the defeat, but his eyes shone fire at the thought of anything more than just the Colonel/subordinate relationship that they had going. Whatever relationship they had blossoming between them, it was one of trust. Ed trusted him, and that was what was important. He wanted to help Fullmetal in anyway that he could, and wanted to be there for him. He just... wasn’t entirely used to Ed asking for help, making him somewhat nervous. 

There were only a few problems with Roy’s theories about Ed’s message, such as when were Ed and Al going to be able to get to Risembol? How long would it take? He knew that there was no way that Hawkeye was going to allow him to stay in Risembol for an unlimited period of time. She’d kill him if he didn’t get all of his paperwork done, but he had to find some way to catch up to the two boys. 

The real question was... was he even sure that Ed would make it all the way to Risembol? He hated to think it, almost becoming nauseous at the thought of something bad happening to him, but he couldn’t help the deafening whisper from flittering through his head like a caged bird. He needed to look at every possible situation, but it was just so seemingly impossible with Ed in danger. 

‘I wonder what condition they are really in’, he thought quietly. He remembered how the phone conversation ended with Envy showing up, and remembered the heartbreak that went along with it. The worry that flooded his veins, a worry that he’d never felt before.

He continued his long stride as he managed to float to his office, unaware of his surroundings. He heard the soft murmur of people in the background, but the muse in his head was the only real sound alienating everything else in his path. 

The brief thought to call the Rockbell girl pierced his brain for a short second before shaking his head in defeat. Even if he wanted to, there was no way that Ed and Al could stay there long enough for Roy to take a train there. They wouldn’t have the sweet bliss of time, only the alarming rates of their hearts as trouble crowded in on them. He also realized that if he did call the Rockbell girl then Ed would kill him for making her worry. 

He walked through the heavy white door of his office, only to find Hawkeye standing inside. ‘Waiting for me’ he thought bitterly. His mind was too full to deal with whatever antics were passing along throughout the military, and he wanted to do anything but deal with it. ‘Maybe she would be more lenient with me if I actually started working occasionally...’, he thought to himself, even though he knew he’d never actually take himself up on that. 

“Sir”, Hawkeye’s voice broke into his thoughts, making him push all of his worries back down into his throat and locking them in the very core of his stomach. It was a hard thing for him to do and would’ve almost bene impossible if he’d have been fifteen years younger, but over time he’d learned to control his emotions.

“Hawkeye..”, he said taking his sweet time in trying to find the right wording. The one thing that he could say to let him do as he pleased. “Please gather me a train ticket to Risembol.” He said warily, lowering his voice before continuing, “It is a very big emergency. I believe that the Elric brothers should be arriving there soon, and they could possibly be in a great deal of trouble. Edward had left left a hint for me on a phone call, implying that he needs my help” 

In reality Mustang knew that there was no way that Hawkeye could decline him that. She cared for the Elric’s a great deal, and knew that if Ed was going to ask for help then things had to be pretty bad. Although, he knew what she was going to say, he still managed to find the weariness in her eyes a little frightening. So he quickly came to a conclusion and added, “I’ll take all of my paperwork with me, and have it sent back as soon as possible.” He looked at the stack of paper on his desk.

She looked at him again and Roy did a double take at the emotion in her eyes. ‘What is that... almost.. bemused?’ and then he knew what was coming. There was no way that Hawkeye would let him journey alone, and she walked towards the door stating that she’d make sure to get all four train tickets. 

“What..? Four...?” he asked aloud, watching Hawkeye’s smile widen and her eyes brighten as she said “of course. You, Hughes, Havoc, and myself. We’ll leave tonight.” 

He was about to protest, but recognized the signs of a helpless cause. There was no changing Hawkeye’s mind. The raven haired man sat back in his chair, before realizing the initial shake that floated through him like electricity. He was worried, and nervous, more so than anything, needing to make sure that the Elric’s were alright.


End file.
